Seam-closing strip.



P. W. MERRICK.

SEAM- CLOSING STRIP.

APPLICATION FILED DBO.12, 1910.

985E486 v Patented Feb. 28, 1911.

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IT STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

FRANK W. MERRICK, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN STAY COMPANY, 013 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

SEAM-CLOSING STRIP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 12, 1910. Serial No. 596,978.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, F RANK IV. Mansion, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Seam-Closing Strips, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention consists in a seam-closing strip composed of a flat strip of material, usually leather, having a solid edge which is exposed at the face side of a seam in which such strip is employed, a solid stitch-receiving portion adjoining such edge, and the remainder of its width between such portion and the other edge split into two thicknesses which are adapted to be spread apart. Preferably the said solid edge is finished to improve the appearance thereof, as by blacking or coloring the same, and it may be burnished. Preferably, also, the solid stitch-receiving portion is grooved longitudinally to reduce the thickness adjacent the solid edge, so that the pieces of material between which the strip is employed may be drawn by the stitches into the depressions or grooves and thereby caused to fit more snugly against the strip, thereby improving the appearance of the seam, and obviating any tendency of the stitches to show or grin.

The invention is illustrated in the drawings, in which,-

Figure 1 shows a length of seam-closing strip embodying the invention. Fig. 1 shows a portion thereof on twice the scale of Fig. 1. Fig. 2 shows in cross-section two pieces of material with a seam-closing strip embodying the invention between them, all secured together by stitches, but before the seam has been rubbed down. Fig. 3 shows the seam of Fig. 2 after having been rubbed down.

Having reference to the drawings, in Figs. 1, 1 and 2, 1 is the solid edge of the seamclosing strip, 2 is the solid stitch-receiving portion adjacent the said solid edge, 3 is the split extending from adjacent the said stitch-receiving portion to the opposite edge of the strip and separating the strip for a portion of its width into the two thicknesses 4L and 5. The said seam-closing strip is formed of a solid strip of material of the. thickness and width of the finished strip,

which is split at 3 so as to divide it for a portion of its width into the two thicknesses 4t and 5. .The substance of the stitclrreceiving portion 2 is left intact and solid to render it better adapted to hold the stitches, and the edge 1 which shows at the face of the seam is likewise left solid, as described.

In Fig. 2, the pieces of material, which may be leather, between which the seamclosing strip is employed, are designated 6, 6, and 7 are the stitches by which the said pieces 6, 6, and the seamclosing strip between them, are all there secured together. The two thicknesses 41, 5, which in Fig. 2 lie close together, are easily separated and spread apart, and when the seam is rubbed down they lie as in Fig. 3, giving a flat seam of satisfactory character.

At 8, 8, are the longitudinal grooves or depressions extending along the stitch-receiving portion of the seam-closing strip, and reducing the thickness of such portion as compared with the solid edge-portion. Figs. 2 and 3 show the pieces 6, 6, drawn into such depressions or grooves by the stitches. hen a solid strip is incorporated in a seam, the seam cannot be made as flat as that of Fig. 3, and remains thick and bunchy.

In the production of the seam-closing strip shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, I employ a solid strip of material of the required width and thickness. This I split from one edge thereof so as to divide the thickness thereof as far as the portion through which the stitches of the scam in which the strip is employed are passed. The grooving of the said portion is effected in suitable manner, as by pressure. By reason of being solid and unsplit, such portion gives a better cushion for the pieces of material between which it lies, as the stitches are drawn tight, and afford a better resistance to the pull of the thread, than in the case of a seam-closing strip made by folding a thin piece of material upon itself. The said solid portion also is much stronger than the corresponding portion of a folded strip of thin material.

My invention enables me to produce a seam-closing strip having the same flexibility and other desirable qualities that a folded kid strip has, combined with much greater cheapness.

One drawback in connection with a solid or unsplit seam-closing strip is the tendency Patented Feb. 28, 1911.

of the inner edge-portion thereof to become pressed entirely over to one side in being rubbed. It often happens in practice that in some portions of the length of a seam the strip becomes displaced thus to one side, and in others is displaced to the other side. The effect of the heavy pressure which has to be applied in flattening down the inner edgeportion of the strip often is to crush down and flatten the exposed edge-portion at the face of the seam, so that the beaded eliect which is desired is lost.

I claim as my invention:

1. A seam-closing strip composed of a fiat strip of material having a solid edge which is exposed in a seam, a solid stitchreceiving portion adjoining such edge, and the remainder of its width between such stitch-receiving portion and the opposite edge split into two thicknesses which are adapted to be spread apart.

2. A seam-closing strip having a solid finished edge, a solid stitch-receiving portion adjoining such finished edge, and the remainder of its width between such stitchreceiving portion and the opposite edge split into two thicknesses which are adapted to be spread apart.

3. A seam-closing strip having a solid edge which is exposed in a seam, a longitudinally-grooved solid stitch-receiving portion adjacent such edge, and the remainder of its width to the opposite edge split into two thicknesses which are adapted to be spread apart.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK MERRIOK.

lVitnesses CHAS. F. RANDALL, EDITH A. TISEMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

